


Tabantha Bridge Stable

by PseudoTwili



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Adventure, Family, Fluff, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-04
Updated: 2021-03-04
Packaged: 2021-03-18 09:27:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,615
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29856009
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PseudoTwili/pseuds/PseudoTwili
Summary: The first time Banji saw him, he hardly had a stitch of clothing and he was afoot. A stranger to her then, he would become quite familiar to her and the rest of her family. Here follows the (mis)adventures of a crazy traveler-hero as they relate to the inhabitants of Tabantha Bridge Stable.
Kudos: 3





	Tabantha Bridge Stable

Catching a movement from the corner of her eye and glancing up, Banji saw the stranger for the first time. She'd witnessed all manner of traveler and wanderer pass through the stable over years since she married into it, but here was a new breed of adventurer all his own! He was rather ill-clad for the region, wearing naught but a pair of shorts, and his bare feet were filthy, evidence that he'd been come some distance under his own power. Like many other travelers, he had some equipment on his back, but his was shoddy, mismatched and looked like he'd raided a monster camp or two. But the most notable thing was his eyes, which were never still and seemed to try to take in everything at once, rather like an excited child who found himself in a new place.

"Welcome to Tabantha Bridge Stable!" she greeted him warmly when he had wandered his way toward her.

"Hello," he replied, taking his eyes off the mushroom-like trees overhead just long enough to look at her.

Foregoing any comment on his attire or lack thereof, she asked, "I'm Banji. You're a traveler, aren't you? Do you need directions? Or perhaps to stay the night? I can help you with the former, and for the latter you'll need to talk to my husband, Dabi, over there. If you're hungry you're welcome to use our cooking pot, or if you want to wait we'll be happy to share our dinner a little later." She didn't want to embarrass him by asking or implying that he might not have any food of his own, but what was she supposed to think with the way he was—pardon the expression—outfitted?

"Directions?" he queried, distracted once more as Kenyo ran past, yelling about the Boom-Bam Ghost.

With a word to her unruly eldest, Banji then launched into her usual explanation of what lay in the four cardinal directions; it was almost like a speech and she had long since memorized it, though sometimes she changed a few words here or there to make it less monotonous for herself. She was not expecting the stranger's eyes and attention to snap so completely to her when she mentioned both the dark clouds near Ludfo's Bog and the great creepy bird thing above Rito Village. She hoped he wasn't thinking of doing anything foolish…

He thanked her and soon after meandered toward the cooking pot. Curious about him, she kept about half an eye on him, half on her work, and the other whole one on her children. It turned out that he did have his own food, and plenty of it too, as she gauged that she could have not quite fed her family a whole meal with the amount that he consumed in that one sitting. Banji's eyes widened as she witnessed it. Why, here was a lad whose slight form belied a great yawning pit that would rival the seemingly unfathomable depths of Tanagar Canyon!

After cleaning up every last grain of rice and bit of meat from the pot, the peculiar traveler wandered around talking to and asking questions of anyone who would reciprocate, during which time Banji finished grooming the horses and began preparing supper for her family. The scantily-clad adventurer was just leaving as she called her children; he looked almost longingly at the food she had whipped up, but he turned himself forcibly away and trudged away across the great bridge until he was out of sight.

~O~

Time was most often an easy friend; it had a tendency to slip by without Banji being quite aware. At any rate, she figured it must have been a few days or so later when she saw the slim, bright-eyed traveler again. This time he was riding atop a spotted horse which was docile enough, but that hadn't yet learned to obey all the nudges of his heels or tug of the handmade reins. The still bare-footed rider approached Dabi and they came to an agreement as to the care and outfitting of the horse. The young man had to dig deep into his pouch, but he had enough rupees, at which Banji was pleasantly surprised.

Days both good and bad marched on by one after the other, days which tended to blend together unless something interesting happened. The visits made them by the energetic, always-hungry adventurer, however, were usually occasions to remember. He returned several times in the space of the following weeks, sometimes with a new horse he'd caught and/or rescued and could not bear to part with, or perhaps riding an already registered mount that had known him for a while and was growing ever gentler under his touch.

Banji guessed by the way he spoke to, fondled and handled the animals that he'd all but grown up on the back of a horse, and she felt a silent kinship with him. She herself would have loved to spend more time spoiling the horses that the stable had charge of, but she had children and other duties that also demanded her time, so she loved it when the scantily-clad young man gave all the horses a carrot or apple each, a nuzzle with his head, and some soft, whisper-breath words.

One of the more memorable days was when he came prancing up to the stable, not on the back of a horse as they'd come to expect, but riding a deer. Not just any deer, either, but a huge one with a rack of antlers that had sixteen discernable points. Banji had grown up near one of the largest forests in Hyrule which was proliferate with the animals and she had observed many of size in her time, but this one was easily the largest deer she'd ever seen. Nor had she ever witnessed anyone attempt to ride this king of the forest. But when her ears caught the tail end of an exclamation from her husband, she knew that the surprises hadn't ended yet.

"Sir, we do not board any…er… any mounts but horses," Dabi was telling the young man, whose name, they had learned, was Link.

The strange traveler protested, "But he's really gotten to be quite tame. He hardly ever tries to buck me off now."

"I'm sorry, but there are no exceptions," the stablemaster declared, setting his jaw in a way that Banji knew meant he was not backing down the slightest fraction of an inch.

"I'll gladly pay double," offered Link hopefully as he began digging around for his rupees.

Dabi shook his head firmly. "No, sir. I cannot agree to that. We wouldn't know what to do with a deer and it would make the other animals nervous."

"Triple?"

"No, sir."

"Quadruple?"

"No."

"Quintuplets? Wait no… Quin… Quint… What is the right word for five times?"

Banji's poor husband was getting redder in the face with each offer. "No!" he exclaimed, and then cleared his throat when he remembered he was dealing with a customer, no matter how fractious. "I would not accept even a million rupees to board that buck here! It's too dangerous!"

Link's face fell and he seemed to lose the bright look about the eyes. Slowly he turned the deer away from the stable and wandered off to no-one knew where. Dabi wiped his brow and muttered a few choice words under his breath. He took off his hat and ran a hand through his hair, which he often groused had gone prematurely gray because he had to deal with people, or maybe he just had some Sheikah blood in his veins. Then he caught sight of his wife and she came over.

"Did you hear that?" he asked. "Can you believe that guy?!"

She nodded and tried to give him a commiserative glance, but the laughter couldn't long be stifled. "Oh, I'm sorry dear!" she cried, and then hurried back to tend to the goats, giving him the chance to calm himself down.

A few days later she was cataloguing a shipment of goods that had just arrived, when she spotted a dark, bulky shape down the road. She couldn't imagine what it might be, but within the time it took her to carry one box to the larder and to help up Ena who had tripped in carrying her own little bundle, the thing on the road had come closer, revealing it to be, in part, the irrepressible Link. This time he was riding a bear.

Banji just stared, forgetting for a minute that bears were highly dangerous wild animals and wondering where in the world he'd found a honeyvore bear, since they were not native to the Ridgeland, Tabantha or other nearby regions. Then her instincts as a mother took over and she almost yelled Ena to tears in ordering her to go inside _now_. She needn't have worried, however, as Link kept his distance from them. He slowed and glanced once in their direction as if wishing he could have a try at boarding his unusual mount at the stable. Then he dug his heels into the bear's round sides (at least he was wearing boots now), to which the ferocious bear responded with a snarly grunt and ambled on.

They'd just barely recovered from that near heart-stopping moment when Link paid them another call. He showed up one night when the children were thankfully all in bed and Banji was cleaning up the remains of a considerable meal a large group of guests had required. She heard Dabi's voice and another that was getting all the more familiar to her, and so she drifted a bit nearer to the counter so she could hear what was going on.

"…I will not board that…thing," the stablemaster was saying.

"It's a horse," came Link's voice from just outside. "It's all bones 'cause it somehow got resurrected after dying, but it's just like a normal horse. It's perfectly safe."

"Absolutely not! I will not have that monster in my stable. It might eat the other horses…or worse!"

They argued like that for a while, but soon Link seemed to tire of bashing his head against an unmovable object. Banji had to take a look at the refused animal after hearing the interchange, so she took a peek outside and saw that the young man was astride a creature that was nothing but bones. It did look rather revolting and terrifying, but it was behaving like a horse and even stamped its right forehoof on the ground as if impatient. She almost wished her husband would give in this time; it didn't look to be so dangerous as the other truly wild animals had been.

Instead of leaving, Link paraded his skeletal pet back and forth in front of the stable where the inhabitants thereof couldn't help but notice that his new mount was just as well behaved as the other horses he'd brought in. It turned, stopped, or sped up as he wanted it to, it followed him like a puppy when he was not on its back, and it somehow ate the two apples and carrot that he offered it, though Banji couldn't imagine where the food went.

She watched his antics instead of going to bed, and she grew so fond of the stalhorse that she determined to demand of her husband that he make an exception this once. She'd gotten to her feet, realized that it was morning already, and turned to Dabi, when she heard a strange cry from outside. It was not unlike the sound a horse would make when under distress, but at the same time it was more echoey and pitiful. She whirled to look. The stalhorse was gone and Link was on his duff in the dust, holding a bit of partly rotted rawhide that had been the reins. The sun had risen.

~O~

Before they knew his name, the children called him the Man-Who-Hasn't-Much-Clothing-But-Lots-of-Food, or Manwhohafo for short, and they continued using it even when they knew his proper appellation. It became partly inaccurate when he started wearing boots and then acquired assortments of quite adequate clothing, but they didn't bother to come up with a new nickname. They usually referred to him thusly when he was not around, but on one occasion Sho said it out loud. His brother and sister stared at him in shocked silence.

The three of them had been watching Link stir an indigestible-looking concoction that seemed to move of its own accord in the cooking pot, but now they were sure he would yell at them and tell them to get lost, as others before him had done. Or maybe he would make them eat some of the horrible, nasty-smelling stuff that gooed up the sides of their mother's best pot. Or maybe he would call them some even nastier names. That had happened before too.

Instead, he laughed and asked, "That's funny name. Would you like some candy?"

The mouths of all three children could have captured several of Sho's beloved insects before they finally remembered their manners. Ena, ever the young know-it-all, replied, "Oh yes, please! …If it's not too much trouble, Mister."

Link said, "Catch!" and tossed three lusciously large honey candies in the air. The children scrambled for them and unwrapped the sweet lumps from the sticky paper. Each candy was colored differently; Link had been experimenting by making small batches and adding little amounts of something else for flavor and pigment. Ena's tasted like wildberry, Kenyo's was faintly salty, and Sho's had a zap to it like voltfruit.

Sho took his candy from his mouth long enough to ask, "Do you have any bugs?"

The Manwhohafo stirred his monstrous-looking food and replied, "Sure do! Want to see them?"

Sho's eyes got much bigger than the honey candy in his mouth. "Yes!" he cried, nearly spitting out the sweetly shrinking morsel.

Letting his wooden spoon slip partway back into the gooey mess in the pot, Link put one hand and then the other into his pouch. He pressed his cupped hands together and then opened them suddenly, releasing butterflies, darners and beetles that were all different colors. Sho stared and almost swallowed his candy blob. He lifted one hand carefully and could hardly contain his excitement when a reddish-black butterfly he'd never seen before perched delicately on his finger.

The insects flitted around Link and the children for several moments, all of which were pure bliss for Sho. One of the beetles accidentally fell into the young man's monstrous stew, but fortunately Sho was looking up and not down, and he didn't notice. Link stirred it in surreptitiously and it blended in perfectly with the rest of his messy mistake. Even Kenyo and Ena were each in their turn impressed and awed by the colors and beauty of such little creatures. Not any of the children wanted to leave, but the insects did; gradually they began fluttering off.

"Oh, oh!" breathed Sho. "Do you have more?!"

Smiling indulgently, the adventurer withdrew more of the desired bugs from his pouch. They were mesmerizing to watch as they seemed to dance through the air around the children; even Banji stopped and stared as she approached.

"I have some fireflies too," Link was saying. "But they're best seen at night so you can see their glow."

As the iridescent butterflies and darners flew higher and further out, Banji remembered her task at hand. It was time to cook a meal for her family.

"What in the name of Hyrule is in my cooking pot?!" she demanded.

Link looked guiltily at his dark, experimental mass which had hardened to about the consistency of a Goron's dinner.

~O~

Dabi's brother, Chork, also worked and lived at the stable, and it was his main job to help care for and see to the overall health of the stable's fine white goats. He was best suited for the job, as he had learned from one of the few veterinarians left in Hyrule, but his mind was usually wandering to other, more interesting matters. Whenever he could, he would leave the stable and explore any nearby ruins, or investigate the sighting a traveler reported of some of the old technology. He and Geggle would often talk over any new sightings over a mug of beer late at night, or else dream of what wonders they might one day find.

Geggle was Banji's uncle and she was always after him to help more with the never-ending chores of the stable, but he always protested that he was getting old and tired and his muscles didn't work as well as they used to. He spent most of his days scanning the distance and trying to figure out what some of the bizarre, Sheikah-made things were supposed to accomplish.

One day Link nearly landed on top of Geggle when the former jumped from one of the mushroom trees without quite looking where he was headed. Geggle yelled at him a bit, Link apologized, and then the older man pointed out the strange markings on a cliff face in the Gerudo Highlands that he had spotted many weeks before, whereupon the adventurer-hero explained animatedly that he'd been up there and found a shrine. Geggle wanted to hear all the details and they were still on that little hill several hours later when Banji called her uncle to dinner.

Night arrived and found Link, Geggle and Chork seated on stools around one of the inside tables. The two stablemen were lifting their usual mugs of beer, but Link was drinking a bottle of some mysterious, strangely-smelling, bluish substance that seemed to be gradually making him more loquacious and energetic. He was telling the other two about the many devices he'd seen within shrines and without. He got to talking so fast that his companions couldn't keep up with the information that spewed from his mouth like water over a falls.

Quite abruptly and without warning, Link jumped up from his stool and cried, "I almost forgot what night it is!"

The sudden exclamation made everyone else in the stable jump, except the children, whom Banji confirmed for herself were still sleeping deeply. What in the world was ailing the peculiar traveler, she wondered. She watching him, half concerned at what he might do next and the other half curious.

With a quick apology to Chork and Geggle, Link dashed from the stable faster than they'd seen anyone move. In a manner of moments he had his horse out, (without a saddle, since apparently that took too much time) and was pelting down the road as if the Calamity itself was after him. Or was he chasing the Calamity? He was certainly crazy enough to do it! Banji said a little prayer to the Goddess to keep him safe on such a night.

Normally, Geggle and Chork could only have been budged from the stable if it had been on fire, but something about Link's barrage of rapidly spoken words had intrigued them. Or perhaps the bold and daring way with which he seemed to approach everything had rubbed off on them. Whatever the reason, they too brought out their horses and set off after the adventurer, amid Banji's protests.

They returned to the stable some time later with the wildest, most ridiculous tale of witnessing Link standing atop a Sheikah platform and waving a huge weapon that would send shivers down anyone's spine; he seemed to be practicing, or conducting a mock battle, as there were no monsters present. His clothes lay discarded on the grass and he didn't seem to care about the downright chilly night air. The most fantastic part was that a shrine had risen behind him just as the blood moon reached its peak.

Banji and Dabi didn't believe the story, but all the same they couldn't be quite sure. It _almost_ sounded like something the peculiar young man might do.

~O~

Sho's interest in insects knew no abatement. If Link was around, the boy would invariably leave whatever task his mother had set him to and pester the young man to tell him about the places where he found all the bugs. Link always complied, and one day he mentioned a place where a great many butterflies, beetles, and even some darners could be found at special times. Sho jumped in glee and immediately went to tell his mother, begging her to let him go.

Now, she wasn't about to let him go off by himself, and wasn't willing to let him go off with an adventurer who did some pretty strange things, even if he did seem trustworthy. However, she and Dabi talked about it and they decided she and Sho would accompany Link to Satori Mountain to see Sho's beloved insects. And then Ena had to come along too, for she would have been miserable without her mother.

They had to wait a while until Link said it was the right time, but at last they set out early one morning, since the journey there and back would take a greater part of the day. Ena was a better rider than Sho, who had always been too distracted to pay attention to their mother's instruction. She kept up a steady stream of conversation, sometimes riding near Banji at the back of the line, or trotting up to talk some of Link's ear off at the front. She noticed how effortlessly he guided his horse and he told her some of the things that her mother had told her, and then some that she hadn't heard before in regards to horsemanship.

"How do you know so much?!" the little girl demanded.

"I don't know. I guess I just do," he replied carelessly. "How do you what to do to help your mother all the time?"

She giggled and they progressed with the rest of their journey in excellent spirits. The going was slower when they began to climb a rutted track on the south-eastern side of Satori Mountain. They wound around the hillside a bit, but it was not too steep for their horses. When they reached a flattish area, Link motioned to them to dismount as quietly as possible. He and Banji tied the reins to a sturdy branch and then they all followed him down a narrow little path which would have been unsafe for the horses.

Sho was in paradise, for at the end of the path lay a huge tree on which all sorts of beetles clung. The air around them was filled with winterwing butterflies and if they were very quiet and did not move too quickly they could keep from startling the beautiful insects. Sho had brought jars to capture a few of the wondrous bugs, but he couldn't bring himself to do it once he saw them. Instead he just satisfied himself with letting the delicate winterwings land on his finger and carefully caress them. The beetles were less friendly, though, as they were as likely to snap at him with their pincers than they were to let him stroke their hard shells.

Then Link led them back up the steep path and up another little hill until they reached a small lake, hardly more than a pond. It was the most beautiful place Banji had ever seen, with its trees that leaned gently over the water, the lush grasses and shrubs that surely held some delectable berries on the shores. Darners danced over the waters, which teemed with bass and trout. Near the lake was a small hump of ground in full sun, where there grew wildflowers in a rainbow of different hues, which had attracted a host of summerwing butterflies.

Sho didn't know where to go first, and Banji and Ena were enraptured by the flowers. Link left them for a little while, saying that he was going to greet a friend of his, and went climbing up the mountain out of sight. But the others hardly noticed his absence, for they were enjoying themselves too much.

Ena gathered great bouquets of the flowers and gave them all to her mother, who thanked her and said they'd make a lovely arrangements in the stable. Sho went from the hillside to the lake and back again, staring at the insects, letting them land on him, and inadvertently scaring some of them with movements that were too quick. Banji watched both her children, drinking in the serenity and beauty of it all and storing it away in her mind where she could always think back on it when the sad and rainy days came.

They didn't notice how low the sun was getting until the sky began changing colors. Banji jumped up, suddenly knowing that they'd stayed too long. But Link assured her that no monsters would dare show up on the mountain while his friend was watching over it, and he would also accompany them safely back to the stable. His word proved to be true, for they saw no sign of keese or stal-enemies until after they'd crossed Jeddo Bridge again, and those that did pester them had made their last mistake.

Sho was very quiet, remembering every detail of the insects he'd seen, and when he went to bed his dreams were filled with them. Ena had only one complaint and it was that she hadn't had enough room to carry all the flowers she'd picked without getting them crushed. Link apologized quite seriously that he hadn't thought of it, and promised to bring her something to make up for it. The next time he came to the stable, he gave her a pouch that could hold many more things than it appeared it could.

"It's for a bigger inventory," he told her. "And it's a present from the big forest kid."

Ena squealed in delight and rushed away to find out how much of her mother's cargo she could fit into it.

~O~

When Link kept bringing horses of all sizes to the stable, as well as any other animals to which he could get close enough to mount, Dabi had to turn him away more and more. The heroic traveler had already brought so many that they simply couldn't keep boarding his horses _ad infinitum_. Finally Dabi put his foot down and told Link, in no uncertain words, that he could not keep any more horses at their stable and he would simply have to let go of some of the ones the adventurer had already boarded.

Banji overhead this and a short time later found the young man disconsolately currying one of his beloved mounts. She was not one to be idle more much more than a moment while the sun still shone, so she took up a brush and copied his action.

"You must love horses a lot," she said.

Link nodded, his blue eyes full of a sadness that went far beyond having to say goodbye to one of his equine friends.

"I suppose it sounds silly, but sometimes I get attached to the horses that stay here for a while, and when their owners take them away again, I miss them terribly," she told him.

Link buried his face in a chestnut neck, and when he spoke his voice was muffled. "I think I know them better than anything. Being near them makes me feel something I can't quite remember. It's a good feeling."

Banji wondered for a moment at the meaning of his words. She realized that she knew next to nothing about him personally, but she also had a feeling he preferred it that way. Usually he was energetic and almost constantly moving (or eating) and seeing him thus gave her some new insight. She already knew that he was not just another traveler, that there was something markedly different about him, but seeing him thusly only made him seem simply more human.

She paused in her motions and offered a chunk of apple to both horses. "I know we can find some fine homes for the ones you have to let go. There's always a demand for good horses, and yours are as splendid as any I've seen. You've trained them and gentled them well."

He raised his eyes to meet hers, and she was gratified to see that he didn't look quite so near to tears anymore.

"Yes," she continued, greatly encouraged by his positive reaction. "I will talk to my husband about it. I'm sure he will be relieved and happy to oblige. And you can keep the best for yourself! We still have room for some, you know."

"The best one isn't here," he murmured, and resumed his gentle currying motions.

"Oh?" said she, probing curiously with just that one word.

He sighed and put his head against the chestnut coat again. "I remember… I guess it was long ago…but I remember my horse back then. She was swift and sure, loyal and funny… she would cheer me up and she was always there whenever everything else went wrong. I can't even remember everything about her…" He paused and his breath hitched. "…I found a white horse, the descendant of the princess' stallion, so I was hoping… that I could find mine again… I've looked and looked… But… but…"

Banji felt tears sting at her own eyes. She couldn't even imagine what horrors this boy must have faced! She realized too that he was still a boy despite his many adventures and travels and heroic deeds. Perhaps, she thought, his bond with horses was the only link he had to his former life. She hated to see him so downhearted, and being a mother of three children, she knew that a pleasant distraction was a cure-all for many kinds of woes, childish or otherwise.

"My aunt likes to tell the children stories whenever she comes for a visit… One of those stories—I think it's always been my favorite—was about a herd of horses that she said were rumored to be found somewhere not too far from here. Those horses are the best, the strongest, the fastest, the most enduring, the most beautiful, and all their fine traits are handed down to their children and children's children."

Link's head had snapped up and his ears were pricked almost like one of his equine companions.

"My aunt always swears this is true: that one of those horses is as swift as the wind and a glance at it is most fleeting, but while the others have at times been claimed by men, that one has not. It is as if… that horse only has one master and each generation waits for its master to return. No others may claim it, no matter how many years may pass, and how many civilizations may crumble away. My aunt sure knows how to spin a tale, doesn't she? I always hoped it was true when I was still a lass. Even now I still wish it so, just a little. Who wouldn't like to have a horse like that?"

Only then did she notice that the young man's eyes were as bright as a cloudless sky on a summer day. Gone were any vestiges of sorrow, replaced with the kind of ecstatic joy of a child who had just been told the most amazing secret in the world. He kissed the face of the horse he had been grooming, gave a few more hurried, less gentle strokes with the brush, and all but danced out of the enclosure. Not a minute later he was back.

"Where did you say that herd could be found?" he queried, each word tumbling over the others in their rush to leave his tongue.

She glanced up at him, wondering why he was so excited about a fairy-story her aunt had been telling since Banji was a wee thing. "Why, I don't know exactly. My aunt usually said it was near a hill, and not far from Tanagar Canyon. But you're not…going to look for those horses, are you?"

Link made no reply; he was already leading one of his mounts out of the enclosure and hefting a saddle to its back. Banji's mouth was agape. Was he really going to go searching for a horse like that, nothing more than a rumor, a legend as fleeting and unpredictable as the wind? She took a couple steps forward, her eyes wide as she stared at the equally incalculable traveler.

He was gone for three days, during time which Banji, who was ever busy with her labors of love for family and stable, had almost forgotten about him. He returned with yet another horse, which made Dabi groan and press a hand over his eyes as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing. Banji too, witnessed Link ride up on the new mount, a dark brown mare that didn't seem much different from other horses, except perhaps in the way she held her head and by the energetic and well-bred spring in her step. Her rider was as poised as ever on her back, and while he might have spoiled the effect when he kept leaning forward to pat her neck or to say something to her, no one who looked at them could say that man and horse did not belong to each other.

Link dismounted and went on foot as he approached Dabi. The mare followed him and put her head over his shoulder when he stopped. He rubbed her face as he set his sights on the stablemaster.

"I'd like to register this horse, please" the young man began, and rushed on hastily when a glowering Dabi opened his mouth. "I know I've left too many horses with you. I know we must find new homes for them and I am prepared for that. But please, I have to keep this horse. She's my best friend! We've…found each other at last." He leaned his face into the mare's and she nickered softly.

"Well…" Dabi drawled. He'd meant to quite resolved, but even he was touched by the emotion in the adventurer's tone.

"I have to keep her! Even if I must part with all the others. I just want to find good homes for them, of course."

Dabi shifted his eyes and met his wife's melting gaze. She nodded at him earnestly. _Let him keep his horse!_

"All right, all right," said the stablemaster gruffly. Even in agreement he didn't have to like it, did he? "We'll register this one for you, but no more. And you'll still have to part with some of the others. Is that understood?"

Link nodded immediately, and reached up to fondle his new horse again, a grin splitting his face. "Did you hear that?" he whispered to her. "I'm going to keep you forever and ever. No one is going to part us again!"

Clearing his throat, Dabi took up his book in which all horses were registered, no matter if they were just tamed or had been owned for many years. "What are you going to name this one?"

The young adventurer's eyes widened as he stared at Dabi as if he didn't recognize him for the question. Then his brows furrowed in a furious concentration of thought. He was like that for several moments; the stablemaster tapped the register with his pencil, a sound which picked up speed and tempo the longer he waited.

Finally Link turned to his mare again and murmured into her ear, "I don't remember your ancestor's name. What should I call you?"

She nuzzled his shoulder and made a little sighing noise.

"I know…names don't matter, not when we've found each other. But he wants me to give you a name."

"Come on, come on. I don't have all day! Dabi declared peevishly. He gave the register another sharp tap.

Link faced him again and said one of the first things that came into his mind. "Piggyback."

Banji, who was nearby watching the whole exchange, could almost have sworn that the mare rolled her eyes.

~O~

The big thunderhead near Ludfo's Bog had unexplainably vanished one day. Banji had never before seen the slightest abatement in those foreboding clouds and incessant streaks of lightning, and the change puzzled her not a little. She was half expecting it to be like the calm eye of one of those great hurricanes that she'd heard could come in from the sea, and for days she kept glancing at the area and holding her breath lest the storm would return. But each time she glanced that way, the skies were as clear as they were over the stable.

Link had been by the stable on several occasions, sometimes doing nothing but sitting by the fire until nightfall and then mounting his horse and racing along the side of Tanagar Canyon as if he was late for an appointment. She never remembered to ask him if he'd been by Ludfo's Bog, however; she'd always think of it after he'd gone. She suspected he might have had something to do with the disappearance of the dark, lightning-filled clouds, though she couldn't really have explained why or how.

Weeks and weeks passed and still the localized storm had not returned. She felt somehow greatly heartened by its vanishing, as if it was part of a tide sweeping over Hyrule, a wave that would ultimately rid them of the evil that lurked. Ever since the clouds had gone, she had an idea to take all the horses on a nice little field trip to Ludfo's Bog, and she finally decided to put it into action. Gathering up her children and putting them in charge of one or two of the horses each, they set off in a little column.

Their spirits high, the children wanted to run off in all directions. The horses, too, seemed to know that a special treat was in store for them, and it was all Banji could do to keep both horses and offspring on the road. Not even her spirits were daunted when she told Kenyo for the tenth time that he could not behave as if he was in a race, and told Sho for the seventh time that he mustn't keep stopping to look for insects. As ever, Ena did her best to imitate her mother and she repeated the orders to both her older brothers, who did their best to ignore her.

Arriving at last at their destination, Banji let the horses graze on the fine grass and whatever succulent morsels they might find growing in the shallow water. Kenyo and Ena romped, chased each other and played in a deeper pool of water that they found. Sho went a ways off by himself and tried to find some bugs, but he tired of that and joined his siblings. Banji watched them and tried to make sure the horses didn't stray too far. After a while she brought forth the picnic basket that she'd packed earlier, and the four of them devoured the lot of it.

When she announced that they must leave, the children, who were having too much fun, set up a mournful protestation. Despite that and by the time she and Kenyo had in rounding up the scattered horses, she had everyone back on the road in just under thirty minutes. Barring any serious delays, she calculated that they'd be back at the stable before dark, which was well and good since the fall of night brought with it evil creatures.

She was so absorbing in making sure that horses and children were staying on the road that she did not notice much else, and the sun was lowering in the sky so that it was beginning to be in their eyes. The horses were suddenly skittish and resisted progressing on the same road that they'd taken before. Banji was just starting to wonder what had them so unsettled when they all heard a frightful roar. Then she saw it.

Some several hundred yards up the road was the shape of something that at first seemed like a very large horse. Surely it wasn't Link with his large equine? She knew immediately that that was wrong. The creature was also partly like a man and even from their distance she could see the great, bulging muscles on the nearly white arms. Faster than lightning, the thoughts jolted through her mind. Hardly had she spotted the hugely horrific thing when she knew what it was.

She screamed. "A lynel!" For a split second she was frozen but then she made her mouth work again, even though the rest of her body didn't want to obey. "Run, children! Run!"

No one had even seen a lynel close up and lived to brag about it, much less defeated one. They were fiercely territorial creatures and they would decimate any living thing that came too close. They were monsters, with hearts as dark as Ganon's, and would slay defenseless wanderers without mercy or hesitation. How could she possibly get her beloved children to safety?!

Panic had her like a prisoner weighed with the heaviest shackles, but still she strove to save her innocent youngsters by placing herself in the middle of the road, as if she could possibly hope to block a rampaging lynel. Again she shouted at them to flee, to run as fast as their mounts would take them, and great was her consternation and fear when they did not obey. They were staring at what lay ahead of them. Oh, why in the name of Hylia did they not escape?

"Go! Go!" she shrieked, making flinging motions with her hands. Tears ran down her cheeks and she didn't know it.

"Mommie! Look, Mommie!" Ena cried.

Banji paused and glanced in the direction of her daughter's little finger. Then she realized that she'd been so caught up in her fright that she had been blind to what was really going on. The lynel was not charging toward them, was not even looking in their direction, but was instead engaged with something (or was it someone?) which Banji could not see because the immense monster was blocking the way.

The lynel shifted a bit and the four watching, breathless Hylians could see that very near the terrifying creature was a horse and rider, the latter of which was actually striking out at the lynel. Then a slight figure jumped from the horse to the lynel's back and struck purposefully while the monster bucked, twisted and flailed with sharp claws to dislodge the unwelcome rider.

Perhaps that brave fellow was attached with some powerful glue, for he stuck there until he had driven a sharp blade between the lynel's ribs. The lynel reared up on its hind legs in its throes of death and the figure leaped off and away. When the lynel had fallen, he approached it cautiously and poked at the corpse as if to reassure himself that it was dead, whistled to his horse and vaulted atop her back again. Whereupon he noticed Banji and her little group and trotted closer.

"It's the Manwhohafo!" the children cried, almost as one. They gave a great cheer, for never had they seen something so frightening and so awesome!

Link greeted them with a wave of his hand, while with his other he held slack on the reins. He leaned forward and thanked his mare for her help.

Banji had to swallow several times, unsure as whether she was swallowing her heart back to its proper place. She sucked in a good dozen breaths before she could even think of making her voice work. "Thank you!" she managed at last. "You have saved my children! I can never thank you enough!"

The heroic lynel-slayer rubbed the back of his neck. "I didn't know you were here…"

Before Banji could figure out what else to say, her children exploded.

"Where did you learn to fight lynels?!"

"How'd you do it?! I thought no one could kill one of those things!"

"Where's your sword? Did you really kill it dead?"

Link shrugged. "I don't know. I just did it, I guess. My sword broke, but I have others. Those lynels have tough hides!"

Finally gathering her wits, Banji realized that the riderless horses under her charge had scattered during the confusion. Link offered to help her by rounding them up and this he and the two boys did with some enthusiasm. In their absence, Banji looked at her little daughter and pulled her right from the back of her mount into a crushing hug. Ena complained and her mother released her with grateful tears still in her eyes.

A few minutes later, the boys returned with all the horses in tow and Banji felt a little calmer, even though she didn't ever think her heartbeat would recede to anything near normal. Link gladly accompanied them back to the stable and trotted just ahead of them. It was then that Banji noticed three deep scratches in the back of his shoulder, where the lynel's claws had just caught him. The leather and two layers of fabric were torn and there was some dried blood, but it did not seem to hamper his movements much.

After reaching the stable, Banji embarrassed poor Link by telling everyone of their narrow escape, lauding his heroism and bravery, and making him sit still while she dressed his "frightful battle wounds". But she made up for it by cooking a humongous meal and allowing him to have all that he wanted. She wouldn't let him leave before she'd mended his tunic and given him a new leather pauldron.

~O~

The children loved it when Link visited and often gathered around him, hoping that he'd have something nice to show them, something fun to tell them, or something good to eat. Some of the things he told them might have seemed ridiculous to those who were more mature, but the children believed him with little reservation. Only Kenyo had some difficulty in swallowing the fact that Link had seen the "Boom-Bam Ghost."

"I've met him," the adventurer affirmed. "He's really just a Goron who fell down Tanagar Canyon and found that he liked it there so he decided to stay."

"That's not true!" the boy shouted. "It's a ghost! Why would a Goron make those weird noises?"

"Do you want to meet him too? Then you'll see," Link said.

Incensed and upset nearly to the point of tears at having his pet dream broken to bits like an acorn shell under a hammer, Kenyo wanted nothing more than to prove the young man as wrong as wrong could be. He asked his parents if he could go with Link, and after they had carefully canvassed the adventurer as to his destination and the route he'd use, they agreed to the journey on the condition that he would first clear the way of any lurking monsters. This Link did and he was back by the following morning.

With each on his own mount, the journey started out awkwardly because Kenyo resolutely refused to talk and his companion realized this and was also quiet, save for some soft words to his horse. But then, as they took the declining path down into Tanagar Canyon, Kenyo mostly forgot his hurt pride and instead marveled at the great walls, the formations of rock, and the veritable road along the canyon floor.

"Wow!" he exclaimed, and with a grin he explained to Link, "Sho and Ena haven't ever been here, so I'm the first one to see this! It's really something, isn't it?"

After going along for a while they came around a slight curve in the canyon and Kenyo looked up to see Tabantha Bridge stretching across the gap far above them. He was so interested in contemplating the familiar bridge from such a different angle that he didn't realize at first that Link had stopped.

"Boom-bam!"

Kenyo's heart leaped when first he heard that, until his common sense caught up to him and he knew it was someone saying "Boom-bam" rather than the sounds that he'd so often heard from the stable. They both dismounted and climbed up a slight slope until they reached a flat space where stood a rocky, rotund, grinning Goron.

Kenyo didn't have time to feel very disappointed, for the Goron, whose name was Modar and who was anything but a ghost, started teaching him how to play golf. Modar declared that it was his own invention and he was very proud of it. For some time the three of them played the game in which they took turns whacking spheres down a slithering slope and each trying to be the first to get their balls to the hole around the flag at the end.

Hours later, the sun had set by the time Kenyo and Link finally returned to the stable. Banji came out to meet them immediately upon hearing their approach and scolded them both for coming back so late, but the young man received the most of it. Meanwhile, Kenyo was as happy as a child could be. He'd given up his fancy about the ghost of Tanagar Canyon, but he didn't care because he'd found a new friend and played an awesome game, and he wanted to go back again.

~O~

Banji hadn't seen Link for quite some time. Whenever one of her children asked her about him, she couldn't help but feel a little pang of worry because the last time he was around she'd heard him mention Hyrule Castle. Everyone knew it was a bed of evil and no one had yet come out alive. She couldn't admit it to any of her youngsters, but she was very much afraid that they'd never see him again. Then she realized she didn't have to mention it to them because she heard them arguing about his absence.

Ena insisted that Link would be fine. Hadn't he fought and killed a lynel? Kenyo admitted it, but he also maintained that the guardians and Ganon were even more dangerous than a lynel. Sho cried because the sunset firefly Link had given him had escaped. Spirits had hardly been lower at Tabantha Bridge Stable. Even Geggle stopped trying to figure out how to get inside the nearby shrine and helped with the chores that kept piling up.

Then one glorious, sunny day, two travelers arrived. The sun had risen just enough that it was at their backs and made it hard to see who they were until they were much closer. Banji started as she recognized the spirited, dark brown horse that was Link's last catch. The other traveler, as it turned out, was a young woman with long golden hair, and she rode a pure white stallion that couldn't have looked more magnificent if he'd had wings and come flying through the air rather than being confined to the ground.

An idea as to the identity of the two newcomers came upon Banji like a flash of inspiration from the goddess herself, and her heart suddenly soared. They could not see the castle from their location, but she was sure that the clouds of Calamity that had shrouded the once-great citadel ever since before her aunt was a little girl had been swept away by the two who were now nearly upon the stable. Banji ran out to greet her newest guests.

"Welcome to Tabantha Bridge Stable!"

~Fin~

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this story for Breath of the Wild's fourth anniversary. I know, I know, it's late, but it's better than not at all, right? It took me longer to write the thing than I thought it would. Typical, haha!
> 
> I was hanging around Tabantha Bridge Stable and getting to know the NPCs there a little better. I do not know if the various stableworkers are actually all related, but I decided to make them that way for this story. I like families! Ena and Banji seem to do a lot of their tasks together, whether it be putting feed out for the goats, cataloguing cargo, or looking after the horses. And at night Banji stands near a sleeping Ena and says, "Welcome to Tabantha Bridge Stable, where looking at a child's sleeping face makes me happy!"
> 
> There's Kenyo, who runs around the exterior of the stable all day (when it's not raining) and says stuff about "the Boom-Bam Ghost" at the bottom of Tanagar Canyon. And then Sho rounds out the trio of children. He seems quieter and is obsessed with bugs, admires Beedle's beetle-shaped backpack, and is terribly pleased that Pikango gave him a picture of a bug.
> 
> Those are just some of the things that I found so interesting about the people at the stable! It reminds me of the intricacies of people's schedules in Majora's Mask. Also, I realized today that I'd previously been spelling Tanagar as Tanager. Now I'm familiar with grammar and calendar and such like, but here's where I slipped up. Ooops! Hahahaha!
> 
> Breath of the Wild, the characters, places and so on belong to Nintendo. I just borrowed them so I could play in Hyrule for a little while. Let me know what you thought of it, whether you liked it or didn't like it. Until we meet again!


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